A shoe seller cuts order processing time in half with a mobile tool

Wholesale shoe seller Miz Mooz, which sells through nine retailers’ e-commerce sites and in several New York boutiques, has cut the time to process orders from trade shows in half since starting to use a mobile inventory and order management system from vendor BizSlate, says Jeffrey Bart, vice president of sales and operations. That’s because on-the-go Miz Mooz salespeople can now see live inventory levels and place orders on iPads or laptops, rather than writing them down and manually entering them into the store’s order management system later, he says.

BizSlate provides ready access to all Miz Mooz’s order and inventory data, allowing staff to immediately place and approve orders when meeting with clients, which speeds up the time to fill them by days or weeks, Bart says.

“If we happen to have some sales reps at a trade show and other reps simultaneously in the field with customers, inventory is correctly reflected, up to the second,” he says. “If customers are ordering products that we have in stock, I can approve orders while they are still with me at the trade show, and give the OK to our warehouse to immediately pick, pack and ship the order.”

Some of BizSlate’s efficiency comes from its easy-to-use order entry screen, Bart says. “We have an option that allows us to quickly access all colors and sizes for a style of shoe and add the needed quantities all at once,” he says. Miz Mooz has only been using BizSlate’s mobile system since the Magic fashion trade show earlier in February, but he says he expects to see significant improvements to operational costs and better inventory tracking, efficiency and customer relationships within the next three to six months.

By mid-2013, retailers and distributors will be able to create an e-commerce web site with BizSlate technology that integrates with BizSlate’s live inventory and order management system, says Marc Kalman, BizSlate founder and CEO. They’ll also be able to integrate the site with “a few of the more popular ‘off the shelf’ e-commerce shopping cart programs,” he says.

Miz Mooz pays about $4,500 per year for three users to access BizSlate’s mobile system, Kalman says. The retailer is taking advantage of the company’s current promotion for new customers to receive a 45% lifetime discount on all fees, which will be offered for the next six months, he says. At regular pricing, BizSlate costs $9,089 per year, plus $1,069 per user and a $10,000 set-up fee for retailers using Intuit’s Inc.’s QuickBooks. BizSlate is designed to work with that accounting software. Those businesses that don’t use QuickBooks must pay an additional $8,000 to migrate their data to BizSlate during set up.